Markin Glen Park drowning victim remembered as 'a great family man'

Charles Hunter, 43, of Kalamazoo, drowned Saturday in a pond at Markin Glen Park off North Westnedge Avenue in Cooper Township.Rosemary Parker/Kalamazoo Gazette

KALAMAZOO, MI – As the day that marked her 60th birthday was coming to an end, Barbara Harvey thought her son was calling with well wishes when his phone number appeared on her caller ID late Saturday.

Harvey, a Chicago resident, and Hunter’s uncle, Michael Hunter, who is a sergeant with the Chicago Police Department, said Hunter was at Markin Glen on Saturday for a cookout to celebrate his son-in-law’s birthday.

Sgt. Jim DeLaBarre of the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office said Hunter was in the water with at least one of his stepsons and, at some point, walked out to a deeper portion of the pond’s swimming area. DeLaBarre said Hunter’s stepson was walking toward the beach when he turned around and didn’t see Hunter in the water.

DeLaBarre said family members called police a short time later after becoming worried about Hunter’s whereabout.

Michael Hunter said he has requested a copy of the autopsy report for his nephew in hopes of learning more about how he died. He said he has been told the report could take 10 to 12 weeks to produce.

Hunter said he wonders whether his nephew’s diabetes may have had something to do with the apparent drowning.

Harvey said her son could not swim.

Charles Hunter moved to Kalamazoo from Chicago about eight years ago and was just married in October, his mother said. He served in the U.S. Army and at one point was stationed with his uncle in Germany before his discharge in 1993.

Harvey said she talked to her son regularly on the phone and recalled how he always ended their conversations with the same line -- “I love you, Ma.”

In addition to his two stepsons, Hunter had four children, Harvey said.

“He was a great family man,” Michael Hunter said. “... He was all about family. That was the thing.”